Introduction
Internet is about communication, and communication is inherently public. The privacy and security of consumer information to be two major issues that stem from the rapid growth in e-commerce, particularly in terms of consumer-related commerce on the Internet. In the last couple of years, by exploiting poorly secured legitimate websites, hackers have been able to plant the malicious code onto them, which then attempts to infect every visitor. One of the reasons the web is so popular is that legitimate websites can attract large numbers of visitors, all of whom are a potential victim. Many well known organizations and brands have fallen victim to this kind of attack during 2008. According to the some studies, one new infected Web page is discovered every 4.5 seconds. The examples are: In March 2008, a site selling tickets for the Euro 2008 football championship was hacked; in September 2008, Business Week magazine was infected with an SQL injection attack that attempted to download malware from a Russian-based server. In October 2008: An area of the Adobe website designed to offer support to video bloggers was compromised by an SQL injection attack.
The major online security attacks fall under several general categories: and accidental actions and malicious attacks.
Accidental actions
This category include the problems arising from basic lack of knowledge about online security concepts and includes such the issues like poor password choices, accidental or erroneous business transactions and accidental disclosure.Related problems occur as a result of misconfigured security products and information leakage resulting from insecure information transfers. Education and prudence are considered as key defenses in limiting the frequency and extent of such events, since this form of cyber vulnerability avoidable.
Malicious attacks
Attacks that specifically aim to do harm are known as malicious attacks. They can be further broken down into attacks caused by malicious code and those caused by intentional misrepresentation. . Malicious code, on the other hand, is some sort of malware that can directly or indirectly affect the online security. It include computer viruses, data theft, and Denial of Service (DOS) attacks.
How to protect our data?
We should communicate only with people and Web sites we trust, while making it as difficult as possible for people we aren't addressing to listen in. We need to secure our computers, control our outbound traffic, encrypt our information and protect our identity.Ultimately, the biggest security threats to your online privacy are your own bad habits. As computers become more connected and more information is stored online, it becomes even more critical that we follow good password practices. That means no pet names, no names of children or favorite sports teams either—and certainly don't make your password "password" it's the first thing hackers check. To learn to make stronger passwords, try a few of your favorites at Password Meter, a Web utility that tests the strength of your passwords as you type them in and rates their security.
Passwords, firewalls and spyware checkers will form a bulwark around your computer, but just as fences, locks and security systems would not keep out a determined burglar, somehow these digital strategies can also fail. So, the best defense is to encrypt your drive. Encryption algorithms are the same sort of stuff that protects top-secret government documents and corporate trade secrets. The open-source TrueCrypt encryption software is free for download and can encrypt files. You should also make sure to encrypt your Wi-Fi router. Choose WPA encryption if your router has the option. This is far more secure than the older WEP option. This will reasonably guarantee that the only person accessing your network is you.
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Online security threat always present
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